


Delightfully Nerdy

by supersinger472



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Modern AU, Parent/Teacher Relationship, Slow Burn, single father Jack, single father Rhys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 15:54:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19444687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supersinger472/pseuds/supersinger472
Summary: Rhys is a teacher at an elementary school and advisor of the tabletop gaming club, one day he butts heads with one of the parents, an arrogant, overprotective father named Jack. Desperate to prove Jack wrong, Rhys tries to teach him that there's more to games than Dungeons and Dragons.





	Delightfully Nerdy

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Rhack Big Bang of 2019! Tune in tomorrow for another chapter

_Tap tap tap_

Jack jerked awake at the sound of gentle tapping on the window of his car. He whipped his head around, trying to fix his eyes on the source of the sound, and spotted a teacher-what was her name? Lily? Lilith-glaring at him through the driver’s side window of his car.

She twisted her arm in the universal, though outdated, symbol for rolling down one’s car window, and Jack complied, rubbing his hand aggressively across his face to wipe the sleep from his eyes.

“You’re really not supposed to sleep in the parking lot, Jack.”

“Yeah, yeah, so you’ve told me.” He decided to ignore her and jabbed his phone with his finger, struggling to focus his tired eyes on the time on the small screen mounted to the dashboard. Shit. Almost five thirty, he was definitely late. He’d only intended to rest his eyes for a second while he waited for Angel’s after school club to end, but clearly he was more tired than he thought. He’d been working such late hours recently, ever since she’d started her club, he’d barely seen her. She even had a babysitter picking her up and taking care of her at home. This was supposed to be his time to finally spend with his baby girl, and he was wasting it sleeping.

He pushed open the car door, barely allowing Lilith the chance to hop out of the way, “sorry, ‘d love to chat, but you know, I got important things to do.” He leaned back inside the car and snagged his phone before slamming the door and jogging into the low, sprawling brick elementary school.

Jack dragged his hands through his hair and tried to look like a cheerful suburban dad, the kind of dad who didn’t sleep off long nights of work in the parking lot of his daughter’s school like a deadbeat. If the reflection of his rumpled clothes and dark circles under his eyes he saw in the windows of the classrooms he passed were anything to go by, he wasn’t succeeding. 

The computer lab was in the back of the school’s library. Large windows filled with chicken wire allowed him to look through at elementary kids in forest green uniforms hard at work, probably playing Pinball or Oregon Trail or whatever game came pre-loaded onto the high-tech, modern machines the school boasted. When Jack didn’t spot Angel through the window he poked his head in, then strode in, ignoring the proper and traditional technique where a parent picking up their child was supposed to creep in like a particularly Catholic church mouse.

“Hey,” he rapped his knuckles on the desk of the club advisor. “I’m here to pick up my daughter, Angel? You know, yea high, black hair, just turned seven?”

“Yeah I know Angel,” the advisor seemed perplexed. “She’s not in the programming club though.”

Practically snarling, Jack reached over the desk and grabbed the pathetic worm of an advisor by the front of his shirt. “What? That’s not possible, I paid her club fees and everything. She brought cupcakes to the first meeting!” Jack was letting his temper get the best of him, but he felt like it was a justifiable rage since his _only child_ was missing.

The advisor fumbled to try and free himself from Jack’s grip, but he wasn’t letting go without an answer. “Did-did you check with her teacher? Mr. Strongford? He’d know better than I would?”

“Fine.” Jack threw him down in his seat. He could sense the stares of the kids on his back and took a few calming breaths before turning around and giving them a broad, toothy smile. “If she’s not there. You’ll be the first to find out.” He growled through his teeth.

The way to Angel’s classroom was unfamiliar to Jack, so he kept his eyes fixed on the doors for the name Mr. Strongford as he jogged through the hallways. It was nearly six by the time he spotted the right room, and he threw open the door, scanning the room for Angel’s familiar face, more important than his own life, while he gasped for breath.

  


Angel was sitting at a low round table, laughing and showing off her adorable dimple she’d inherited from Jack. On her head was perched a pink plastic tiara and she was drawing on a large sheet of paper, explaining something to her companions at the table; two other kids, a chubby girl Angel’s age with light colored hair in a round bob, and an older boy who looked about ten with short blond hair; and two adult men, a man with glasses and a neatly trimmed beard, and a skinny man with brown hair Jack recognized as Mr. Strongford.

“Daddy!” Angel smiled when she spotted him and threw down her blue marker, running around the table and tackling her with all her tiny might.

“Hey Angel.” Jack tried not to let how worried he’d been show his face. He bent down and scooped her up easily in his arms. “What are you doing in your classroom? You were supposed to be in programming club. You had daddy worried.”

Angel looked down, guilt reading all over her face as she squirmed and tried to escape his embrace. “I didn’t want to do programming club. It’s boring.”

“Angel,” Jack started, not letting her escape.

Mr. Strongford stood up from the small table, which required a lot of careful unfolding and extraction to escape, “Vaughn can have my turn, I need to talk to Angel’s daddy.”

“Contempt!” The chubby girl shouted, and banged her fists on the table. Her chant was quickly picked up by the other kid. “Contempt! Contempt! Contempt!”

Vaughn quickly shushed the kids by drawing a card from a deck placed at the center of the table. While he read Mr. Strongford walked up to Jack. The teacher was tall and thin, with one brown eye and one bright blue eye. Jack swept his eyes over him and fixed his gaze on the white and black plastic hand poking out of his sleeve, it looked sleek and high tech.

“Hi, you must be Angel’s dad, Mr. Lawrence? I don’t think we’ve met properly. It’s great to meet you.” The skinny teacher gave him a bright toothy grin and held out his plastic hand to shake. “Can I call you Jack?”

It took some careful juggling of Angel, but Jack managed to reach out and shake his hand, “you can call me whatever you want if you tell me why my daughter was hanging around in here instead of in programming club where she was supposed to be.”

“I’m afraid I can’t answer that, because she signed up for tabletop club, which I run. Angel, why don’t you tell me and your daddy what club you signed up for?”

Angel looked from Jack’s face to her teacher’s, but she wasn’t finding any sympathy no matter where she looked. “I didn’t want to do programming club,” she mumbled.

“What? Pumpkin, you love programming, what are you talking about?”

“No I don’t! You want me to love programming! But the club is boring. Tabletop club is fun!” She pushed on Jack’s chest and finally persuaded him to set her on the floor. She crossed her arms and glared up at him.

“Angel, I’m glad you like tabletop club, but you shouldn’t lie to your daddy like that. He must have been very worried when he couldn’t find you.” Mr. Strongford looked up at Jack with a half-apologetic, half-sympathetic look on his face. “I’m so sorry for the confusion, Jack, I promise you I had no idea this wasn’t the club you wanted her to sign up for.”

Jack took a deep breath, telling himself that no harm had been done. A part of him still wanted to rip out Mr. Strongford’s throat for making him worry, but it was a quiet part. “What can you do?” He forced a smile and shrugged. “As long as she can still be in the programming club.”

“Not exactly. See, club sign ups are closed now, so Angel can’t actually change which club she’s in. Not to worry though, she can still have an enriching experience and make friends in the tabletop club.”

Jack’s smile twitched and he forced it wider, “I guess it’s impossible then mister, uh…”

“Strongford. Rhys Strongford.”

“So it’s impossible then?”

“I’m afraid so.” Rhys pressed his lips into a flat line and blinked up at him, a look that dared Jack to argue further.

“I guess at least it’s a harmless waste of time. Better Angel fought dragons and goblins than be out on the street looking for trouble. Long as she doesn’t turn into some neckbeard living in my basement when she’s thirty, ain’t that right?” Jack laughed and clapped Rhys on the arm, his prosthetic arm judging by the solid feel beneath his hand. “Come on pumpkin, time to head home.” Jack bent down and scooped Angel up with a grunt of effort. “Where’s your backpack kiddo?”

Angel pointed out her cubby near the front of the room and Jack grabbed her teddy bear backpack on the way out of the room. He turned his back and missed the sight of Rhys’ polite smile slowly beginning to crack, his hands balled into fists so tight his knuckles turned white and the plastic creaked ominously.

“Neckbeards, huh? Mister. Lawrence.” Rhys muttered under his breath. “Is _that_ what we are to you?”

**Author's Note:**

> The Quiet Year is a tabletop game written by Avery Alder
> 
> Art is by the lovely ideal-king on tumblr (there's more great art to come :D)
> 
> Follow me on tumblr mpregnateyourocs or twitter @SweenMaxine


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